SDG 4 Scorecard: Progress Report on National Benchmarks; Focus on Teachers

This is the second assessment of country progress towards the benchmarks, or national targets, that countries have set for eight SDG 4 indicators to mark their contribution to the global targets. The assessment covers the period since 2015 and reviews the probability that each country will achieve its 2025 benchmark or – where such a benchmark was not set – the value they would have achieved if they had progressed at the historic (2000–15) rate of the fastest improving 25% of countries.

The 2024 SDG 4 Scorecard finds that progress towards national targets is off track for most indicators. In two cases – the gender gap at the expense of boys in upper secondary education completion and public education expenditure as share of total public expenditure – countries are even moving backwards.

In contrast, progress is faster in the eighth benchmark indicator, school internet connectivity, which was added following the priority given to digital transformation at the Transforming Education Summit in 2022. One third of countries set national targets in 2023 and progress on the indicator is being reviewed for the first time in this edition.

Progress is also relatively fast in the percentage of teachers with minimum required qualifications, which is also the focus indicator of this edition. New evidence is presented on national policies for minimum required qualification levels to enter the teaching profession, compulsory continuous professional development policies, and teacher training policies on technology in education.